“The Cornish Bakery is where to come for proper local pasties, beautifully buttery French pastries, hand-roasted coffee and speciality breads. All prepared and served with passion, innovation and energy, all with the aim of helping you achieve your own Cornwall state of mind, wherever you are. We’ve been immersed in this diversity ever since our founder, Steve Grocutt, opened his first store in Mevagissey, where the pasties won over hard-to-please locals. And we’ve been growing ever since, not just surprising, delighting and communicating with our customers, but winning awards too. Our Cornwall state of mind has seen us scoop – among others – a Design Business Association (DBA) award, as well as a Food and Beverage (FAB) prize for our interiors and, of course, being named makers of The World’s Best Pasty.”

The Pasty, Cornish or not, has a unique appeal. It is the ideal food on the go. That said just like anything else there is always room for improvement and the way The Cornish Bakery have approached this is more about the fillings than the pastry itself. I'm pretty sure originally in Cornwall when they were first invented the concept of some of the popular fillings available would have seemed a little strange:-

Since the very first brew of Acorn Barnsley Bitter back in 2003 the brewery has amassed over 50 awards for the quality of its’ cask and bottled beers.

They are very proud of all the awards from small regional beer festivals all the way through to prestigious national competitions and still continue to enter their beer into competitions. Mainly because they still get such a thrill from getting recognition from the people whose opinions really matter – people who enjoy drinking good beer.

“ Welcome to Acorn Brewery, Born and bred in Wombwell Barnsley, where we have been growing up since 2003. We broke our teeth on our first brewing kit, which was purchased from the Forester & Firkin Brew Pub of Stafford. Our first brew took place on the on the 4th July 2003 where we produced our flag ship, award winning Barnsley Bitter. From here we have gone from strength to strength introducing 6 core beers to our range. Along the way there have been a few bumped heads and scratched knees but it is safe to say we have grown into a strapping teenager, now living on a 25-barrel plant which we moved to during 2008. We are very passionate about the beers we brew and ensure that only quality products are produced. Did you know that as well as our core range we have brewed over 125 different single hopped IPA’s. Never using the same hop twice! Each month we release 2/3 signature beers, which always go down a treat. It’s fair to say that life is great and we would like to give a massive thanks to everyone in the Acorn family and to all our happy customers that enjoy our beers! “

Acorn Brewery have a range of six permanent beers and a range of seasonal beers available on a monthly basis. Beers can be ordered for consumption at home or in 10 / 20l beer in a box up to 9 gallon firkins for private functions.

There are some recipes which are simply better without flour. It is one of them.

Ingredients:-

120g/4½oz butter

3 eggs

170g/6oz sugar

100g/3½oz walnuts, roughly chopped

Method:-

(1) Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4. Line a 28cm (11in) brownie tin with baking paper.

(2) Suspend a bowl over a pan of simmering water (making sure the water doesn’t touch the bottom) and melt the chocolate and butter, stirring a couple of times until the chocolate is just melted.

(3) In a separate mixing bowl, use an electric whisk to beat the eggs, sugar and 1 tsp of salt until very light and fluffy and doubled in volume. Stir in the melted chocolate mixture, and when it is incorporated stir in the walnuts. Pour into the tin and place in the oven for 20-25 minutes at 180C, until the surface is firm but gives a little when you touch it. Leave to cool in the tin before cutting into squares.

One of the trending concerns of 2018 in the use of single use plastics and their impact of the environment, especially the oceans. Plastics in everyday life are almost unavoidable and pubs and restaurants unfortunately are not entirely immune from the problem. This year four of the major pub chains have already announced that they will be withdrawing plastic drinking straws for their retail operations. Which initially sounds like a very positive step. However there are certain drinks, especially cocktails, which are simply not the same without a straw.

There are several alternatives to plastic straws. Glass, Stainless Steel and the dreaded soggy paper strew, we've probably all had poor experiences with. Leaving to paper straw behind both metal and glass straws present a considerable cost and certain obvious health and safety issues.

Here is a real alternative which is relatively low cost and environmentally friendly. Single use straws manufactured from Polylactic Acid (PLA) are broken down by micro-organisms in a composing environment over a relatively short period of time. The constituent released Lactic Acid is metabolised by the microbes and there remains no polymer material in the environment. A win – win. There are limitations and correct disposal is key. PLA which finds its way into the oceans will remain, so these straws and other products manufactured from PLA need composing. So counter to intuition the correct disposal route is presently your household green bin. But with the assistance of local authorities green bins could quite easily be provided to food and beverage based bushiness.

This is not an affiliate link, simply an example of biodegradable straws which are already available in the UK - Allance Online

Perhaps we should be encouraging our favourite restaurant and the pub on the corner to embrace them and do their bit for the environment?